Twitter Employees Push Back on Elon Musk’s Layoff Plans

Twitter employees have written an open letter, pushing back against Elon Musk’s reported plans to lay off 75% of the company’s staff....
Twitter Employees Push Back on Elon Musk’s Layoff Plans
Written by WebProNews
  • Twitter employees have written an open letter, pushing back against Elon Musk’s reported plans to lay off 75% of the company’s staff.

    Musk’s Twitter acquisition appears to be moving forward, but Musk has reportedly told investors he wants to let up to 75% of the company’s staff go once the deal is done. This would leave the company with just 2,000 of its 7,500 employees.

    According to Time, Twitter employees have penned an open letter objecting to the plans, even going so far as to call them “reckless.” The number of signatures is not yet know, with the authors of the letter saying “signatures will not be made public unless we have critical mass.”

    Below is a copy of the letter in full, courtesy of Time:

    Staff, Elon Musk, and Board of Directors:

    We, the undersigned Twitter workers, believe the public conversation is in jeopardy.

    Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation. A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.

    Twitter has significant effects on societies and communities across the globe. As we speak, Twitter is helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world.

    A threat to workers at Twitter is a threat to Twitter’s future. These threats have an impact on us as workers and demonstrate a fundamental disconnect with the realities of operating Twitter. They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.

    We, the workers at Twitter, will not be intimidated. We recommit to supporting the communities, organizations, and businesses who rely on Twitter. We will not stop serving the public conversation.

    We call on Twitter management and Elon Musk to cease these negligent layoff threats. As workers, we deserve concrete commitments so we can continue to preserve the integrity of our platform.

    We demand of current and future leadership:

    Respect: We demand leadership to respect the platform and the workers who maintain it by committing to preserving the current headcount.

    Safety: We demand that leadership does not discriminate against workers on the basis of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. We also demand safety for workers on visas, who will be forced to leave the country they work in if they are laid off.

    Protection: We demand Elon Musk explicitly commit to preserve our benefits, those both listed in the merger agreement and not (e.g. remote work). We demand leadership to establish and ensure fair severance policies for all workers before and after any change in ownership.

    Dignity: We demand transparent, prompt and thoughtful communication around our working conditions. We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires.

    Sincerely,

    Twitter workers

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit